
This question can apply to many of the hottest HR and employment issues I came across this week. Social Media, Social Security, Healthcare, Unions, Benefits, Hiring trends and Productivity killers. Tricky? You better believe it. Treats? Only if you mange them correctly. How to do it right? Back to being Tricky. Makes you want to just bury your head in a big bag of Halloween candy, doesn’t it. Well, hopefully some of the news of the week will help you chase some of those HR ghosts away this weekend.
Happy Haunting!
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Make sure you Manage your Online Profile: Why do employers conduct background checks? Employers are concerned with negligent hiring practices. They confirm potentially false or inflated information, abide by federal and state laws and acknowledge the age in which we live – the ‘information age.’ (womenofhr.com)
Social Security Rigor Mortis – through the eyes of the Millenials: According to a poll of 642 18- to 29-year-olds conducted by the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., 50% don’t believe Social Security will exist by the time they become age-eligible for the program at 67. Another 28% think the program will be around, but will provide a much smaller benefit. Just 5% expect benefits to be the same as they are to current beneficiaries. (benefitnews.com)
Shifting Costs of Perks and Benefits: As the economy sputters and health-care costs rise, businesses large and small are eliminating benefits they consider nonessential and shifting more costs to employees for the benefits that are offered. (wsj.com)
Soon-to-be Retirees get some Good News: Social Security benefits to rise 3.6% next year: Social Security retirement benefits for about 55 million people will go up by 3.6% next year, the first cost-of-living increase since 2009, the U.S. Social Security Administration said last week. (benefitnews.com)
Indiana panel recommends right-to-work legislation: A committee of Indiana lawmakers is recommending their colleagues approve "right-to-work" legislation when they return in January for their 2012 session. (ibj.com)
DOL issues final rules on 401(k) investment advice: Defined contribution plans may offer advice from a third-party as long as that entity receives level fees regardless of their recommendations, or through a certified computer model. (benefitnews.com)
Hiring Activity for October Appears Weak: Continuing a recent pattern of weak job growth in the United States, hiring in October will be limited in the manufacturing sector and will fall in the service sector compared with a year ago, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for October 2011. (shrm.org)
Hire With Purpose: Q&A With Small Business Expert Jay Goltz: “I’m not looking for great storytellers. I want to figure out what makes people tick and how they operate on the job.” (thehiringsite.com)
Skilled Worker Shortage or Training Shortage?: Even with unemployment hovering around 9%, companies are grousing that they can’t find skilled workers, and filling a job can take months of hunting. Employers are quick to lay blame. Schools aren’t giving kids the right kind of training. The government isn’t letting in enough high-skill immigrants. The list goes on and on. But I believe that the real culprits are the employers themselves. (tlnt.com)
Productivity Killers at Work: Americans may be spending more time at work, but they’re also becoming much less productive. Workplace productivity dropped 0.3% in the second quarter, following a decline of 0.6% in the first three months of the year, according to the Labor Department. It was the first back-to-back decline in productivity since the second half of 2008. (The Street)
Rising Government Layoffs Overshadow Private-sector job growth: Crippled by plunging tax revenues, state and local governments have shed over a half million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. And, after adding jobs early in the downturn, the federal government is now cutting them as well.
Unemployment Discrimination: Monster.com Has It Right, People (Job Boards are PLATFORMS)…: Repeat after me: Job Boards are PLATFORMS, not arbitrators of quality, fairness or morality. What’s a platform? A platform is where the masses can come and use technology in a variety of ways. Think Facebook, think Amazon. (hrcapitalist.com)